Pan-fried Mini Potatoes with Bacon and Spices

中文菜谱：香煎培根彩色小土豆

I always have a special enthusiasm for potatoes, especially the mini ones.  When I was living in Michigan, we always visited the local farmers market twice a week to buy some freshly roasted coffee beans and newly harvested potatoes.  Those were two highlights during the week.  

If you have ever tried the freshest potatoes dug out the soil the very same day you cook them, it would be really hard to go back to the ones sold in super market stores.  They are so fresh, starchy, hearty, and earthy with a nutty aroma and super creamy texture.  

One of my favorite ways to cook mini potatoes is to pan fry them with bacons.  The fat rendered from bacons would add a rich porky fatty flavor to the potatoes, which is exactly why they taste so amazingly good.

Ingredients：

1 lb mini rainbow potatoes
6 to 8 slices of bacons, cut into small pieces
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
white sesame seeds
chopped green onion
spicy chili dry mix *

Directions：

Rainbow mini potatoes are sold in most grocery stores.  If you can’t find them, the yellow or red mini ones will be almost equally tasty too.

Rinse the potatoes under running water.  Add to a pot of boiling water along with a couple teaspoons of salt in it.  Cook the potatoes over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until you can easily piece them in the center with a fork.

BTW, the potato skins can help them to stay in shape. I like to leave them on the potatoes.  

Cut every potato into two halves.

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat.

Add bacons. 

Sauté the bacons until slightly golden brown.

Add potatoes

Reduce the heat to medium low.  Flip the potatoes occasionally.  Keep cooking over medium low heat until they are golden brown.

Season with salt and black pepper

Sprinkle with chopped green onions, white sesame seeds and spicy chili dry mix.

Continue to cook for another couple minutes.  Remove from heat and serve hot immediately.

It is so true that bacon makes everything taste better! O(∩_∩)O~

*  Chili spice dry mix is available in Asian grocery stores.  I love to make my own at home.  It is quite simple to do so.  Separately dry roast chili peppers, Sichuan pepper corns, sesame seeds, cumin and peanuts.  And then grind them together into fine powder with a coffee grinder or vitamix.

The mix can be used in sautés, BBQ, grilling or salads. 

Go ahead play with the spices.  It is easy to make some simple mix with big flavors! 

Stir-fried Fava Beans with Ground Pork and Pickled Vegetable

中文菜谱： 碎米芽菜肉末炒蚕豆

Fresh fava beans are such a culinary delicacy.  The fresh beans come with light green color and a mild grassy, earthy and refreshing scent and taste.  When cooked, they become a bit sweet and starchy. 

For those who have never had fava beans before, they are very similar to what young lima beans taste like.  The skin on the outside is a little bit firmer than lima beans.  And they are both very tasty!

I cook with fresh fava beans a lot.  The best season for them is late summer.  And they are usually available in Asian grocery markets.  If you live in Houston like I do, Central Market is another good place to shop for fresh fava beans too.

Ingredients：

2 lbs fresh fava beans
200  to 300 g ground pork
1/2  package of Sichuan pickled vegetable, finely chopped (1/2 package weighs about 50 g.  It is sold in most Asian grocery stores)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon oyster sauce
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup of chicken broth/ water
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 slice of ginger root, minced
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
5 to 6 dry red chili peppers, diced
vegetable oil for cooking
salt to taste

Fresh young fava beans are usually sold in pods so that they stay fresh and the beans don’t get bruised. 

Pick the ones with big fat “belly”.

Peel fava beans from their pods.

Directions：

Heat a cast iron wok over high heat.  Add oil, along with minced garlic, ginger, diced peppers and ground pork.  Stir fry over high heat for several minutes until the ground pork begin to turn slightly golden brown.

Add chopped Sichuan pickled vegetable. Sautee for a minute or two. 

Add fava beans and sautee everything together for another couple minutes.

Add chicken broth/water, along with rice cooking wine, oyster suace, low sodium soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and salt.  Cover with lid and reduce the heat to simmer for 7 to 8 minutes.

Turn the heat back to high and cook until the broth evaporate. 

Sautee over high heat for another couple minutes. 

Remove from heat and serve hot immediately.

Boiled Young Peanuts

中文菜谱： 盐水煮嫩花生

It is September already.  Fall and cool air have not arrived at Houston yet.  It is still very hot and humid outside, like we are still in the middle of a super long summer.

However, fresh produces sold on the market are beginning to show the signs of fall.  New crop of peanuts are in season now.  Oh gee, I can’t describe how much I love these young peanuts recently dug up from underground.

A lot of people love boiled peanuts.  But not so many have tried young peanuts.  They are a bit less crunchy than the regular ones, but they are packed with such a sweet, refreshing, nutty, and earthy flavor. 

Ingredients：

1 lb young peanuts
2 to 3 star anises
1 to 2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns
3 to 4 cloves
2 bay leaves
5 to 6 dried chili peppers
sea salt to taste
water for boiling

Directions：

Thoroughly rinse the peanuts under running water.  Add to a small stock pot, along with spices and seasonings and water.

Heat over high heat until the water boils.  Cover with lid.  Reduce the heat to simmer for 15 minutes.

I keep the boiling time so short to preserve the crunchy texture from young peanuts.  If you prefer softer and tender texture, extend the cooking time to 30 to 40 minutes or more if needed.  

Boiled peanuts and a cold beer, what a pleasant treat! O(∩_∩)O~

Pickled Young Ginger Roots

中文菜谱：

脆嫩爽口的泡仔姜

Pickled vegetables have been a long time tradition in my hometown in China.  Most vegetables thrive in summer but hard to find in other seasons, so that our ancestors developed such a way to preserve excessive vegetables for later use.  Actually similar vegetable pickling techniques have been used in many places all over the world, with minor differences in the process and ingredients. 

Most southern Chinese families keep one or more pickling jars in the kitchen.  These pickling jars are different from all we can see on grocery markets in the States.  There are deep V shape edges on the top of the jars where water would be added to keep the whole jar aid-tight. 

I have been looked over everywhere to such a pickling jar in America but came up with none.  So I brought back one from a trip back to China a couple years ago. 

Pickling ingredients and methods vary from area to area too.  I mostly do Sichuan style pickling which involves lots of peppers, Sichuan peppercorns and other Asian spices.   

Pickled young ginger roots are one of my favorites.  But the thing is, it is extremely hard to find fresh young ginger roots on the market.  I guess not that many people know how delicious they are. 

I was so happy when I finally found some in an H-mart grocery store.

Rinse the young ginger roots under running water.  Pat them dry with kitchen paper towel or air dry with cool air in a food dehydrator.

Add to the pickling jar, and sprinkle some with a handful course sea salt.  The pickled vegetables should be ready in about a week. 

The pickling juice from the jar is the key to success.  The best way to start pickling is to buy a small jar of authentic Sichuan style pickles from the nearest Asian grocery store.  Use it as the starter.

Add cold boiled water, rice wine, sea salt, Sichuan peppercorns, cayenne peppers, garlic cloves, star anises, cloves, sugar and some other spices of your choice to the jar.  Seal the edge with water.  Wait for 3 to 4 days.  You should now have a jar of pickling juice to begin with.

 Add vegetables to the jar and they would be done in about one week.  The more you pickle vegetables, the richer and more delicate flavor the pickling juice would be.  

This time, I make pickled young ginger and long beans.  Both of them are popular pickles in southern China too.

They taste very crunchy, a bit tangy, savory and very flavorful depending on the spices used in the pickling process.  

Young ginger roots are more tender, crunchy, and a lot less spicy than the regular ginger roots.  Yum! O(∩_∩)O~

Grilled Asparagus Wrapped in Bacon

中文菜谱：

烤培根芦笋卷

If you love to shop at local farmers’ markets like I do, you would agree with me that asparagus is a messenger for spring.  It is earliest vegetable coming out of the ground.

 When I was living back in Michigan, winter was really cold and long.  We had to wait until May when it finally warmed up.  And asparagus is always the first seasonal vegetable appearing at farmers’ markets, followed by strawberries in June. 

Asparagus can be cooked in so many ways that I can never get tired of it.  One of my favorite ways is to grill with bacon.  Oh, yes, bacon makes everything so much better! O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

1 bunch asparagus
1 package of bacon (1 lb)
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper

Directions：

Try to pick the asparagus that is short and thick with tender and juicy texture.

Remove the tough bottom by bending each asparagus near its bottom until it snaps. Discard the tough bottom parts.    

Wrap each asparagus with one slice of bacon.  Secure both ends with bamboo toothpicks. 

I also wrap the bacon slices around some enokitake mushrooms and garlic chives. 

Preheat grill to 400F/ 204C

Quickly brush the griddle with some oil.  Add bacon-wrapped vegetables.

Excessive dripping fat from bacons may cause the grill to flare up.  Keep a close eye on the grill.  Flip them frequently if necessary to prevent burning or over cooking. 

Sprinkle salt and black pepper on top while grilling.

Bacon turns amazingly golden brown.  The vegetables are ready.

You can also bake asparagus in the oven with bacon.  But I think grilling is a better way because it adds extra smoky flavors that cannot be produced in a regular oven.